Mana Chains
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has "Cumulative upkeep 
." (At the beginning of its controller's upkeep, that player puts an age counter on it, then sacrifices it unless they pay its upkeep cost for each age counter on it.)
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Weatherlight
- Price
- $0.15
- EDHREC rank
- #22775
Mana Chains locks down a creature immediately — its controller pays an extra mana every time they want to untap it, which compounds fast in the early turns when mana is tight. At one blue mana, it's among the cheapest soft-stax pieces in the format.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Mana Chains occupies a niche stax slot: it won't stop a threat permanently, but taxing a commander's untap is genuinely punishing when that commander needs to tap to generate value. In Legacy and Vintage, cheaper and harder interaction exists at every turn, so Mana Chains rarely competes. Pauper is its best non-Commander home, where the commons pool has fewer answers and a one-mana enchantment that slows down a key creature can swing tempo meaningfully.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.15 bulk tier
At $0.15, Mana Chains is firmly bulk — you're paying almost nothing for a card with a real, if narrow, function. Bulk stax pieces like this don't appreciate unless a combo or commander pushes them into demand, so buy it for the effect, not the speculation.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.